Cross-channel orchestration of messages

ABSTRACT

Disclosed embodiments herein related to a message management server that provides a platform for message publishers to build message series with different messages that are transmitted to message recipients via different channels. A message publisher may specify triggering conditions for a message series. The message management server may automatically identify message recipients to receive an initial message. The message management server may continue to monitor event notifications related to the message recipients and send subsequent messages in the series to the message recipients when conditions are met. Each message may be sent via a different channel as specified by the message recipients. The platform may include a graphical user interface to provide previews of the messages as rendered in various end user device models when the messages are delivered via the specified channels.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/985,066, filed Aug. 4, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application 62/883,520, filed on Aug. 6, 2019, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application 63/003,047, filed on May 31, 2020,which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a server that distributesmessages to recipients on behalf of message publishers and, morespecifically, to distribution of messages via different channels.

BACKGROUND

Communication channels are often associated with their own requirements,protocols and limitations. An organization may encounter technicaldifficulties in trying to transmit a message designed for one channelvia another channel. The appearance, contents, and overall feeling ofthe message may be changed significantly when a different channel isused to deliver the message. In some cases, the change in channels mayrender the message completely undeliverable. On one hand, anorganization may not be equipped with the technical specialty to freelyswitch messages between channels. On the other hand, sending messagesthrough a single channel or a limited set of channels may not be aneffective communication strategy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure (FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example systemenvironment, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an examplemessage management server, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example message objecthierarchy that may be used with the message management server, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an example process for a messagemanagement server to provide an interface for a message publisher tocompose and launch a message series, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 5A through FIG. 5E are example illustrations of graphical userinterfaces provided by a message management server for a messagepublisher to compose a message series, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting an example process for a messagemanagement server to perform message channel re-targeting, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting an example process for the messagemanagement server to implement a primary message plan, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are conceptual diagrams illustrating example GUIs fordisplaying primary message plans and their analytics, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of an examplecomputing machine, in accordance with some embodiments.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figures and the following description relate to preferredembodiments by way of illustration only. It should be noted that fromthe following discussion, alternative embodiments of the structures andmethods disclosed herein will be readily recognized as viablealternatives that may be employed without departing from the principlesof what is claimed.

Reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted thatwherever practicable similar or like reference numbers may be used inthe figures and may indicate similar or like functionality. The figuresdepict embodiments of the disclosed system (or method) for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles described herein.

Configuration Overview

Disclosed embodiments herein are related to a message management serverthat provides a platform for message publishers to build message serieswith different messages. The messages are transmitted to messagerecipients via different channels. A message publisher may specifytriggering conditions for a message series. The message managementserver may automatically identify message recipients for the initialmessage in the series based on the triggering conditions. The messagemanagement server may continue to monitor event notifications related tothe message recipients and send subsequent messages in the series to themessage recipients when conditions are met. Each message may be sent viaa different channel as specified by the message recipients. The platformmay include a graphical user interface to provide previews of themessages as rendered in various end user device models when the messagesare delivered via the specified channels.

Example System Environment

Referring now to Figure (FIG. 1, shown is a block diagram illustratingan embodiment of an example system environment 100 for performing across-channel orchestration process, in accordance with an embodiment.By way of example, the system environment 100 includes a messagemanagement server 110, one or more computing devices associated with oneor more message publishers 120, and one or more message recipients 130.Each message recipient 130 may be associated with one or more usercomputing devices 132 (e.g., 132A, 132B, . . . , 132N (N being an nthdevice, n being some number; generally computing devices 132). Theentities and components in the system environment 100 may communicatewith each other through networks 140. The message management server 110may communicate with various user computing devices 132 throughdifferent channels 150 (e.g., 150A, 150B, 150C, . . . , 150N (N being annth device, n being some number); generally channels 150). In variousembodiments, the system environment 100 may include fewer or additionalcomponents. The system environment 100 also may include differentcomponents. Also, while some of the components in the system environment100 may sometimes be described in a singular form, the systemenvironment 100 may include one or more of each of the components. Forexample, as noted there may be multiple message publishers 120 andmultiple message recipients 130.

The message management server 110 may include one or more computers thatperform various tasks related to transmitting messages to variousmessage recipients 130 on behalf of different message publishers 120,determining conditions and channels to transmit various messages, andtransmitting a series of messages using different channels 150.Implementation of transmission of messages through different channelsmay be referred to as a message orchestration.

The message management server 110 may take the form of a combination ofhardware and software. The message management server 110 may includesome or all example components of a computing machine described withFIG. 10. The message management server 110 may also be referred to as amessage managing platform or simply a computing server. The managementserver 110 may take different forms. In one embodiment, the messagemanagement server 110 may be a server computer that executes codeinstructions to perform various processes described herein. In anothercase, the message management server 110 may be a pool of computingdevices that may be located at the same geographical location (e.g., aserver room) or be distributed geographically (e.g., clouding computing,distributed computing, or in a virtual server network). The messagemanagement server 110 may also include one or more virtualizationinstances such as a container, a virtual machine, a virtual privateserver, a virtual kernel, or another suitable virtualization instance.The message management server 110 may provide message publishers 120with various message management services as a form of cloud-basedsoftware, such as software as a service (SaaS), through the networks140. Examples of components and functionalities of the messagemanagement server 110 are discussed in further detail below withreference to FIG. 2.

Message publishers 120 are various organizations and individuals thatinteract with the message management server 110. The message publishers120 may be the customers of the message management server 110. Themessage publishers 120 can be of different natures and can be anysuitable types of organizations, natural persons, or robotic devices.For example, a message publisher 120 can be a government entity thatprovides important or emergency messages to citizens. In anotherexample, a message publisher 120 can be an educational institute thatsends announcements to its students through different channels 150. Somemessage publishers 120 may also be private businesses or individuals. Inone case, a retail business may be a message publisher 120 that uses theservice of the message management server 110 to distribute marketingannouncements and advertisements to various message recipients 130. Inanother case, another retail business may use the message managementserver 110 to transmit gift cards, coupons, store credits, and receiptsas various forms of messages to message recipients 130. In yet anothercase, a message publisher 120 may be an airline that sends passes (e.g.,boarding passes) and flight status updates to message recipients 130. Inyet another case, a message publisher 120 may be a bank that sendsstatements and payment reminders to message recipients 130. In yetanother case, a message publisher 120 may be a news organization thatsends news and articles to its subscribers. In yet another case, amessage publisher 120 may be a social networking system that sends feedsand contents to message recipients 130. In yet another case, a messagepublisher 120 may be an individual who sends messages to his families,friends, and other connected individuals. These are non-exhaustiveexamples of message publishers 120. A message publisher 120 may be anindependent entity of the message management server 110 or may controlthe message management server 110, depending on embodiments.

Each message publisher 120 may be associated with one or more clientservers 125 that are used to communicate with the message managementserver 110 and message recipients 130. The client servers 125 may alsobe referred to as message publisher servers 125, message publisherdevices 125 or client devices 125. Each client server 125 may be acomputing device that can transmit and receive data via the networks140. The client server 125 may include some or all of the examplecomponents described with FIG. 10. A client server 125 performsoperations of various day-to-day tasks of the corresponding messagepublisher 120. For example, a bank (an example message publisher 120)may include a server 125 that manages the balances of accounts of itscustomers, processes payments and deposits, and performs other bankingtasks. In another example, an airline (another example message publisher120) may include a server 125 that manages the flight statuses, generateboarding passes, and manages bookings of the customers. The preciseoperations of a client server 125 may depend on the nature of thecorresponding message publisher 120.

A message publisher 120 may interact directly with its customers or endusers, who are examples of message recipients 130, and may delegatecertain operations, such as sending certain types of messages, to themessage management server 110. A message publisher 120 may maintainaccounts of its users and manage day-to-day interactions with the userswhile directing the message management server 110 to distributesmessages to the users on behalf of the message publisher 120. Forexample, the message publisher 120 may use a message management systemprovided by the message management server 110 to design messages and setconditions, channels, and intended recipients of the messages. Themessage publisher 120, through the message management server 110, maylaunch a message campaign that includes a series of messages to beautomatically delivered to various message recipients 130. The messagecampaign may involve delivering various messages through differentchannels 150. In some embodiments, a message may be considered to betransmitted from the message publisher 120 regardless of whether themessage publisher's server directly sends the message or the messagemanagement server 110 sends the message.

To design a message campaign or to perform some other operations, amessage publisher 120 may communicate with the message management server110 through the client server 125 or a computing device associated withthe message publisher 120. The methods of communication may varydepending on embodiments and circumstances. For example, an individualassociated with a message publisher 120 (e.g., an employee) maycommunicate to the message management server 110 through a webapplication that is run by a web browser such as CHROME, FIREFOX,SAFARI, INTERNET EXPLORER, EDGE, etc. In another case, the messagemanagement server 110 may publish a mobile application or a desktopapplication that includes a graphical user interface (GUI). Anindividual associated with a message publisher 120 may use the mobile ordesktop application to communicate with the message management server110. In yet another case, a client server 125 may communicate directlywith the message management server 110 via other suitable ways such asapplication program interfaces (APIs).

A message recipient 130 is an intended recipient of messages that may bedesigned by a message publisher 120 and sent from the message managementserver 110. Message recipients 130 may be users, customers, subscribers,viewers, or any suitable message recipients of the message publisher120. Message recipients 130 may also be referred to as end users, orsimply users. Message recipients 130 can be individuals, organizations,or even robotic agents. Each message recipient 130 may be associatedwith one or more user computing devices 132. For example, a user mayhave a smart phone, a laptop computer, and a tablet. The user computingdevices 132A, 132B, . . . 132N may be of different kinds. One or moreuser computing devices 132 may have the components of a computingmachine illustrated in FIG. 10. Examples of user computing devices 132include personal computers (PC), desktop computers, laptop computers,tablets (e.g., iPADs), smartphones, wearable electronic devices such assmartwatches, smart home appliances (e.g., smart home hubs andcontrollers), vehicle computer systems, or any other suitable electronicdevices.

User computing devices 132 may also include one or moreInternet-of-Things (IoT) devices. An IoT device may be anetwork-connected device embedded in a physical environment (e.g.,building, vehicles, appliances (home or office), etc.). In some cases,an IoT device has general processing power that is comparable to acomputer. In other cases, an IoT device may have limited processingresources, low power, and limited bandwidth for communications. Forexample, an IoT device may be a sensor. An IoT device may be configuredto gather and provide information about its physical environment. Invarious embodiments, an IoT device connects to the network 140 toprovide information gathered from and/or associated with the environmentthat the device is within. Data may be gathered through one or moresensors associated with the device and/or through inputs receivedthrough (or via) the device.

Some of the user computing devices 132 may be installed with anapplication 134 that is developed and operated by the message publisher120. The application 134 or a portion of it may be developed using asoftware development kit (SDK) 136 provided by the message managementserver 110. While the message publisher 120 primarily operates theapplication 134, the SDK 136 allows the user computing device 132 tocommunicate with the message management server 110. For example, anexample message publisher 120 may be a retail business that develops anapplication 134 for its customers to purchase items through theapplication 134. A customer may opt-in to allow the application 134 totrack certain analytics. The analytics may be forwarded to the messagemanagement server 110 through the SDK 136. The application 134 may runon Swift for iOS and other APPLE operating systems or on Java or anothersuitable language for ANDROID systems. In another case, an application134 may be a software program that operates on a desktop computer thatruns on an operating system such as LINUX, MICROSOFT WINDOWS, MAC OS, orCHROME OS.

The networks 140 provide connections to the components of the systemenvironment 100 through one or more sub-networks, which may include anycombination of the local area and/or wide area networks, using bothwired and/or wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, thenetworks 140 use standard communications technologies and/or protocols.For example, a network 140 may include communication links usingtechnologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability formicrowave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5G, codedivision multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.Examples of network protocols used for communicating via the network 140include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol(HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol(FTP). Data exchanged over a network 140 may be represented using anysuitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML), extensiblemarkup language (XML), JavaScript object notation (JSON), structuredquery language (SQL). In some embodiments, all or some of thecommunication links of a network 140 may be encrypted using any suitabletechnique or techniques such as secure sockets layer (SSL), transportlayer security (TLS), virtual private networks (VPNs), Internet Protocolsecurity (IPsec), etc. The networks 140 also include links and packetswitching networks such as the Internet.

The message management server 110 may transmit messages to messagerecipients 130 via different channels 150. A channel 150 may beassociated with a communication protocol or another non-standard method.A channel 150 may also be referred to as a communication channelExamples of channels 150 include text messaging services (e.g., SMS,MMS), emails (e.g., mobile emails, plain text emails, browser emails),push notification protocols (e.g., APPLE push notification, ANDROID pushnotification), instant messaging applications (WHATSAPP, WECHAT,TELEGRAM), in-application messages (e.g., messages sent withinapplication 134), social networking systems (e.g., FACEBOOK, TWITTER),RSS feeds, web browser notifications, other suitable protocols such assimply message payloads sent as an Internet packet or a series ofpackets. The message management server 110 may decide that a message isto be transmitted through one or more channels based on the settingprovided by the message publisher 120. The details of the selection ofchannels will be discussed in further detail below with reference toFIGS. 2 and 3.

A channel 150 may or may not correspond to a user computing device 132.For certain types of channels 150, the user computing device 132 thatwill receive the message is fixed. For example, for an SMS message, theuser computing device 132 that is associated with the phone number willreceive the message. An in-application message may also be sent to theuser computing device 132 with which the application 134 is installed. Amessage intended for an IoT device may also be sent using a channel 150that is associated with the IoT device. Yet, in other cases, the usercomputing device 132 that is going to receive the message is not fixed.For example, a message recipient 130 may read an email message from morethan one user computing device 132.

Example Message Management Server Components

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an examplemessage management server 110, in accordance with some embodiments. Amessage management server 110 may include a message publisher managementengine 205, a message recipient management engine 210, an eventmanagement engine 215, an orchestration strategy management engine 220,a message series management engine 225, a message campaign managementengine 230, an analytics management engine 235, a channel selectionengine 240, a message transmission engine 245, and a front-end interfaceengine 250. In various embodiments, the message management server 110may include fewer or additional components. The message managementserver 110 also may include different components. The functions ofvarious components in message management server 110 may be distributedin a different manner than described below. Moreover, while each of thecomponents in FIG. 2 may be described in a singular form, the componentsmay present in plurality.

The components of the message management server 110 may be embodied assoftware engines that include code (e.g., program code comprised ofinstructions, machine code, etc.) that is stored on an electronic medium(e.g., memory and/or disk) and executable by a processing system (e.g.,one or more processors and/or controllers). The components also could beembodied in hardware, e.g., field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)and/or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), that mayinclude circuits alone or circuits in combination with firmware and/orsoftware. Each component in FIG. 2 may be a combination of software codeinstructions and hardware such as one or more processors that executethe code instructions to perform various processes. Each component inFIG. 2 may include all or part of the example structure andconfiguration of the computing machine described in FIG. 10.

The message publisher management engine 205 manages the profiles andcredentials of message publishers 120 and stores saved templates andsaved messages for the retrieval of the message publishers 120. Forexample, a customer that intends to use the message publisher managementengine 205 to launch a message campaign to distribute messages tovarious end users may create an account with the message managementserver 110. The message management server 110 stores the customer'sprofile, metadata, credential and associate the information with aunique customer identifier, such as publisherID. The customer (anexample of a message publisher 120) may create message templates,message series templates, digital pass templates (e.g., digital boardingpasses and digital coupons), specify criteria of message distributionand goals of message campaigns, select or specify types of events andanalytics to be captured by the message management server 110, andconfigure other settings with the message management server 110. Thetemplates and settings are associated with the customer identifier andcan be retrieved, duplicated, edited, and deleted based on the messagepublisher's preferences and actions entered through a message managementapplication and/or API provided by the message management server 110.The message management application also may enable (or provide fordisplay) one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for rendering on,for example, a user computing device 132. Examples of GUIs of themessage management application will be discussed in further detail withreference to FIG. 5A through FIG. 5E.

By way of example, the message publisher management engine 205 mayinclude a message publisher profile database, which may also storeinformation including filter preferences, event types, message publisherserver destination, and predictive and automation settings forregistered users. In other embodiments, the message publisher accountdatabase may also store additional services that a message publisher 120would like to interface with, including the number of active streamsassociated with the message publisher 120. For example, these additionalservices can be other message publishers and/or strategic partners.Continuing with the example, a message publisher 120 may optionallychoose to create three active streams. One stream may be associated witha server configured to receive a stream generated associated with amessage publisher 120 at a specific server destination, e.g.,www.foo.com, another with a server associated with a social mediasystem, e.g., FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, etc., and the last with aserver associated with a message publisher organization. In some examplecases, the preferences associated with a message publisher profile maybe a username and/or destination address. The message management server110 may also be configured to accept additional message publisherpreferences. This additional message publisher information may capturetargeted demographics information, spending habits, travel habits, andother such details.

The message recipient management engine 210 manages the messagerecipients to whom the messages are sent. Each message publisher 120 maybe associated with a set of intended message recipients 130. A messagerecipient 130 may be associated with a recipient identifier,recipientID. Each computing device 132 associated with the messagerecipient 130 may be associated with a device identifier, deviceID. Forsome devices, the message recipient management engine 210 may also storeapplication identifier, applicationID, for identifying actions occurredat or related to an application 134 and track in-application messagessent through the application 134. A set of recipientIDs, deviceIDs, andapplicationIDs may be associated with a publisherID. The messagerecipient management engine 210 may maintain metadata tags for messagerecipients 130, such as whether a recipient is a natural person or not,preferences of the message recipients 130, opt-in or opt-out options ofthe message recipients 130 (e.g., a message recipient may opt-out forreceiving a message from a particular channel), and othercharacteristics of the message recipients, including consentedinformation such as gender, age, interested products, interested news,etc. Based on the characteristics of the message recipients 130, themessage recipient management engine 210 may categorize the messagerecipients into one or more groups. The message recipient managementengine 210 may also store records of messages sent to each messagerecipient 130, such as metadata of the messages (e.g., date and time ofthe messages, the channel identifier, channelID, used to send aparticular message), the payloads of the messages, actions taken orrelated to each sent message, and types of devices and deviceIDs towhich the message are sent.

The event management engine 215 manages and stores events associatedwith message recipients 130 and events associated with user computingdevices 132. The events may be transmitted from the message publishers120, from third parties, or from the user computing devices 132.

For events transmitted from the message publishers 120 or third parties,by way of example, a message publisher 120 may be an airline thattransmits an event notification to the message management server 110that a flight is delayed and identifies the passengers of the flightbased on the recipientIDs. Based on the event notification, the messagemanagement server 110 may send a message to the passengers. In anotherexample, a message publisher 120 may be a bank that sends an eventnotification to the message management server 110 that an end user hassettled a transaction. Based on the event notification, the messagemanagement server 110 sends a confirmation message to the end user. Inyet another example, the event may be transmitted from a third party.The message management server 110 may identify message recipients 130that are potentially affected by the event notified by the third party.

The events may also be sent from various user computing devices 132associated with message recipients 130. Those event notifications may bereferred to as mobile event notifications. Each mobile eventnotification may be associated with a message recipient 130 and be savedalong with an event identifier, eventID, a messageID and a recipientID.Mobile event notifications may be transmitted from mobile event sources.In various embodiments, a mobile event source may be an IoT device or auser computing device 132 running an application 134. The application134 is configured to generate and transmit a mobile event notification.For example, the SDK 136 may include code instructions to cause a usercomputing device 132 to transmit a mobile event notification to themessage management server 110.

A mobile event notification from a user computing device 132 may includea notification payload and a destination associated with a messagepublisher 120. In various embodiments, the destination is a networkaddress such as a message publisher computer, a proxy server, or anotherdevice configured to receive data streams from message management server110. For example, the destination may be a specified universal resourcelocator (URL), e.g., “www.message publisher.com/proxyserver”. Thenotification payload associated with a mobile event notification,received by message management server 110, may include an eventdescriptor and a notification identifier.

The event descriptor may include at least one of an applicationlifecycle event, a user engagement event, a user behavior event, a userinsight event, a user location event, or any combination thereof. In oneexample, an event descriptor is an application lifecycle event such as a“first open” of an application 134, an “inactivity” event (e.g., anapplication 134 has been inactive), an “app open” event, an “app close”event, or an “app uninstall” event; a user engagement event such as a“push”, a “push send”, a “rich deliver”, a “rich read”, a “rich delete”,an “in application display”, a “digital pass object install” or a“digital pass object remove”; a user behavior event such as a “tagupdate” event, an “app open” event, an “app close” event, or othercustom events defined by a message publisher 120. In some embodiments,the event descriptor may also include a user location event such asgeolocation, or timestamp data or a user insight event associated with aprediction of a future application lifecycle event, user engagementevent, user behavior event, user location event, or any combinationthereof. For the ease of reference, all those events, whether they arerelated to application lifecycle, user engagement, location, ortimestamp, may be collectively referred to application lifecycle events.

By way of example of a mobile event notification, a user computingdevice 132 (e.g., a mobile phone, an IoT device) sends a mobile eventnotification to message management server 110 if the user computingdevice 132 is within a threshold distance of a store of a messagepublisher 120, or if the user opens the application 134 or interactswith an IoT device.

A notification identifier may include an identification of thenotification and other identification information. For example, theidentification may include a userID, an applicationID, a messagepublisherID, a deviceID, deviceType, or any combination thereof. Forexample, a mobile event notification generated by a user computingdevice 132 associated with a user “Nolan” may include a message that auser associated with userID: “Nolan”, a deviceID: “02”, an eventdescriptor: “app uninstall” associated with a message publisherID:LATTE, INC., at Time: 11:00 PM PST near a location of 123 Main Street,Portland, Oreg.

In some embodiments, a mobile event source is an IoT device associatedwith a message publisher 120. An IoT device may be configured totransmit a mobile event notification to message management server 110.For example, an IoT device may be a temperature sensor that generates amobile event notification with the current temperature and transmits thegenerated mobile event notification to the message management server 110via network 140.

In some embodiments, upon receiving a mobile event notification from auser computing device 132, the event management engine 215 generates amobile event token. The mobile event token may be derived (e.g., a hash)in some way from the received mobile event notification and/or metadatarelating thereto. In some embodiments, a single mobile event token isassigned to a plurality of received mobile event notifications.Additionally, as used herein, the process of generating a mobile eventtoken from a mobile event notification may be referred to as “decoratinga received mobile event notification” and can be used to provide contextto mobile event notifications received from a user computing device 132.

In some embodiments, the event management engine 215 may generate themobile event token by communicating with a number of contextualservices. The event management engine 215 may include code segments forgenerating a mobile event token including assigning context obtainedfrom one or more contextual services. Contextual services may furtherinclude any number of modules that extract timestamp data, demographicdata associated with a user, GPS data, historical data includinghistorical trends, or any combination thereof from a received mobileevent notification. For example, upon receiving a mobile eventnotification associated with an “app open” event from a user computingdevice 132, the event management engine 215 generates a mobile eventtoken including a timestamp and a GPS location associated with thereceived event. In other embodiments, the contextual data assigned to amobile event token associated with a mobile event notification may beassociated with a certain user computing device 132 including one ormore identifiers. In still other embodiments, the message managementserver 110 may decorate a mobile event token with a predicted userbehavior including a future user engagement event, an applicationlifecycle event, or any combination thereof.

The orchestration strategy management engine 220 stores strategies andrules provided by message publishers 120 for the transmission ofmessages to various message recipients 130. In some message campaigns,the same message may be sent to a message recipient 130 through multiplechannels 150 or a series of related messages may be sent to the messagerecipient 130 through different channels 150. The transmission ofmessages through different channels 150 may be referred to as channelorchestration. For example, a message publisher 120 may set up a messageseries for a payment reminder. The first reminder message may be sentthrough a less disruptive channel 150 such as by an email. Subsequentreminder messages may be sent through more disruptive channels 150 suchas a publish notification, an in-application notification, and an SMSmessage.

The orchestration strategy management engine 220 may allow a messagepublisher 120 to pick different channel selection rules for each messageor a series of messages. Example channel selection rules may includechannel priority with fall back, last active, originating channel, andfan out option. When the message management server 110 sends a messageto a message recipient 130, the message management server 110 selectsone or more channels 150 based on the channel selection rules associatedwith the message.

A channel selection rule for channel priority with fall back allows amessage publisher 120 to select the priority of the channels to send amessage and select fall back channels if a higher-priority channel(s) isnot available. A channel selection rule may be applicable to a largegroup of message recipients 130. The message recipient management engine210 may provide a list of available channels 150 (e.g., channels thatare opted in, or not opted out) for each intended message recipient 130.Each intended message recipient 130 may be associated with a differentlist of available channels 150. The message management server 110attempts to send the message to the highest priority channel first andfallbacks to alternative channels if a message recipient 130 does notopt in for the highest priority channel.

The channel selection rule for the last active channel or theoriginating channel specifies that the message management server 110sends a message based on the message recipient's last active channel orthe originating channel. The event management engine 215 may providemobile event notifications that include information on whether a userhas taken an action (e.g., opening a message, responding to an email,etc.) with respect to a channel 150. If the user takes an action thattriggers the message management server 110 to send another message, thenew message may be sent to the same channel. This reaction by themessage management server 110 may be selected by the originating channelselection rule. The originating channel selection rule may also specifythat the message management server 110 to target a channel 150associated with a trigger event. For example, the message publisher 120may direct the message management server 110 to send a message when atrigger event is detected from a channel 150 or associated with anapplication related to a channel 150. For example, a message publisher120 may specify that a new message is to be sent when a location eventis detected (e.g., a device enter a radius or a territory of alocation). The location event may be sent from an application 134. Themessage management server 110 may send the new message through anin-application message or a push notification associated with theapplication 134.

The channel selection rule for fan-out specifies that the messagemanagement server 110 to send the same message to a message recipient130 through multiple channels 150 simultaneously or within a reasonabletimeframe. A message publisher 120 may select multiple channels 150 forthe fan-out option. For a specific message recipient 130, the messagemanagement server 110 sends the message through various channels 150unless one or more channels are opted-out by the message recipient 130.

The message series management engine 225 allows message publishers 120to design a message series. Each message series may be referred to as ajourney. A message series may include a series of related messages thatare sent to a message recipient 130 when a certain condition is met. Themessage series management engine 225 manages the message series that aredesigned and saved by various message publishers 120. A message seriesmay be associated with a start condition, an end condition, messagerecipient selection criteria, a message order, message branching, andtriggering conditions and channels 150 to be used for each message inthe series.

A start condition may include various rules that specify when a messageseries will be triggered for a particular candidate message recipient130. A triggering condition may be an event, such as a mobile event whenthe message management server 110 receives a mobile event notification.For example, a message series may be triggered when a user first opensthe application 134. A triggering condition may also be another eventwhose notification is provided the message publisher 120 or a thirdparty. For example, a message series may begin 24 hours after a user hascreated an account with the message publisher 120. Other triggeringcondition may include tag change, inactivity, first seen, locationmatching, location attributes, and an event occurring. The startcondition may also include timing and date for the first message in themessage series to be sent after a triggering condition is met. In somecases, the message series starts immediately after a triggeringcondition is met. In other cases, the message series is scheduled basedon the timing and date. The start condition may also include certainlimitations. For example, the limitation may prevent the messagemanagement server 110 from involving a message recipient 130 in morethan a certain number of message journeys within a predetermined periodof time. The limitation may also prevent the message management server110 from involving a message recipient 130 in a repeated messagejourney. A triggering condition may also be a risk factor such as achurn risk associated with an application 134 or a channel 150.

An end condition may include various rules that specify when a messageseries is completed. A message publisher 120 may specify that a messageseries is completed after all messages in the series are sent. Other endcondition examples may specify rules for a message series to endprematurely. For example, a message series may end on a conversion eventor a cancellation event. A conversion event is associated with aconversion condition. The message management server 110 may exit amessage recipient 130 when the conversion event is detected. Forexample, in a marketing campaign, when a message recipient 130 clicks onan advertisement that is sent as a message, the message publisher 120may specify that the clicking of the advertisement is a successfulconversion. In another example, if the message series is for reminding auser to make a monthly payment, the conversion event may be that theuser has made the monthly payment. A cancellation event may be an eventthat is indicated by the message recipient 130 or the message publisher120 to stop the message series when the cancellation event is detected.For example, a message recipient 130 may want to opt-out or unsubscribefrom the message series.

The message recipient selection criteria allow a message publisher 120to select what users will be selected for a particular message series.The selection criteria could be event-based, metadata tag-based,device-type-based, channel-based, or any combination thereof.

The message order and message branching allow a message publisher 120 toselect how the messages in a series are arranged. A message series canbe linear or can be branched. The message publisher 120 may also specifyconditions to skip one or more messages.

The triggering conditions and channels 150 to be used for each messagein the series are rules that are specified by a message publisher 120how when a message will be sent after one or conditions are met. Thetriggering condition for a message may be time-based. For example, asecond message may be sent 2 days after the first message is sent. Thetriggering condition for a message may also be event-based, such as whenthe message management server 110 receives a mobile event notificationthat matches the triggering condition. The event-based triggeringcondition may also include a time element such as a delay after theevent condition is met. Other trigger conditions discussed in thisdisclosure are also possible. For each message, a message publisher 120may also select a channel selection rule based on the discussion abovewith reference to the orchestration strategy management engine 220.

The message campaign management engine 230 manages message campaignsdesigned by various message publishers 120. A message campaign may be agoal-based collection of multiple related message series. For example, amessage publisher 120 may design a goal-to-goal branching of multiplemessage series. Each message series may have a goal that is specified inthe end condition of message series. The message series are linkedtogether in any suitable ways, branched or linear, cyclic or acyclic. Amessage campaign may also be referred to as a primary message plan.

The analytics management engine 235 provides statistics and analyticsfor messages, message series and message campaigns. After messages aresent to message recipients 130, the message management server 110 mayreceive responses from the message recipients 130, mobile eventnotifications, or other notifications related to the messages. For someof the messages, the message management server 110 may also receive noaction from the recipients or any notification at all. A messagemanagement server 110 may keep track of the number of users in eachmessage series, actions taken by the users (or inactions) afterreceiving messages, and other metrics such as rates of meeting certaintriggering criteria. A message publisher 120 may start a message seriesor a message campaign in real-time. The message management server 110may display how many users (message recipients 130) are in each messageseries and other live analytics in real-time for each message or eachmessage series as a summary of the progress of each message series.

The channel selection engine 240 selects one or more channels 150 fortransmitting or distributing a message. The channel section engine 240may select the channels 150 based on the channel selection rulesspecified by the message publisher 120 as discussed in the orchestrationstrategy management engine 220. The channel selection engine 240 mayalso perform a channel retargeting operation. The message managementserver 110 may monitor events such as user behaviors in one channel 150and decide to send follow up messages in a message series to the userson a different channel. For example, the message management server 110may determine an application churn risk with respect to a user. Inresponse to the churn risk being higher than a threshold, the messagemanagement server 110 may decide to change an in-application message toanother channel that is less reliant on the application (e.g., an emailchannel). The message management server 110 may monitor the interactionor lack of action of the users with one or more messages to determinewhether the user receives messages on alternative channels. The messagemanagement server 110 may switch from a channel 150 that is tied to oneor more applications (e.g., push notification, in-application message,web notification, instant messages in a chat application) to anotherchannel 150 that is more independent.

A churn prediction system (CPS), which may be one or more machinelearning model operated by the message management server 110, may beused to predict if a user will not stop opening an application or willstop opening an application associated with a customer over a futuretime period. By way of example, a user that will stop opening theapplication is classified as having churned and a user that will notstop opening the application is classified as not having churned.

The CPS generates a machine learning model based on historical eventdata from a plurality of other users of the application associated withthe customer wherein inputs to the model comprise feature vector. Thetype of machine learning algorithms used may be a regression model, adecision tree model, a support vector machine, a neural network, aconvolutional neural network, a recurrent neural network, a long shortterm memory network, etc. In an embodiment, the output of the generatedmodel is a likelihood of churn. The historical event data includes thechurn related behavior of each of the other users, such as thosetransmitted from mobile event notification. Based on the historicaldata, the churn prediction system extracts a feature vector for each ofthe plurality of other users. The extracted feature vectors areclassified into a positive training set and a negative training set. Inone or more embodiments, the CPS trains the machine learning model usingthe positive and negative training set. In another embodiment, insteadof using a binary classification (optimized or not optimized), the setof training samples may include more than two subsets.

The training of a machine learning algorithm may include an iterativeapproach to gradually improve an objective function associated with themachine learning algorithm using the training set. The machine learningalgorithm may include coefficients and/or, in the case of neuralnetwork, multiple layers and each layer may have multiple nodes (e.g.,neurons in a neural network). The layers and the nodes may be associatedwith multiple kernels, coefficients, and weights that can be adjusted.Training the machine learning algorithm may include forward propagationand back propagation. In forward propagation, the machine learningalgorithm relies on the values of the kernels, coefficients, and weightsin the current iteration to make predictions of the training samples'labels. For example, the message management server 110 may input thefeature vector to the machine learning algorithm to make a predictionwhether the churn will occur or not. The prediction of whether churnwill occur or not is then compared to the actual label of the trainingsample. The objective function may be a loss function that determineshow well the machine learning algorithm makes predictions for theoverall training set (e.g., how many correct predictions out of a set oftraining samples) in a given iteration. In back propagation, the messagemanagement server 110 uses techniques such as coordinate descent toadjust the values of the kernels, coefficients, and weights in adirection that is projected to improve the value of the object function.In the next iteration, forward propagation is executed again to make anew round of predictions using the newly adjusted values of the kernels,coefficients, and weights. Forward and back propagations are executed inmultiple iterations to continue to improve the performance of themachine learning algorithm. Training may be completed when the modelconverges (e.g., the value of the objective function no longer improvesnotably) or after a predetermined number of iterations. The kernelslearned in the training process often related to various features orsummaries that are associated with attributes or things that signifywhether a step is optimized or not optimized.

The CPS retrieves historical event data associated with the user andextracts a feature vector from the historical event data. The CPSapplies the extracted feature vector to the trained model as an inputand determines a likelihood of churn associated with the user. In someembodiments, the CPS additionally determines a risk of churn associatedwith the user. In still other embodiments, the CPS receives a set ofusers and the CPS generates a report indicating a percentage of the setof user that have a high, medium, and low risk of churn in a future timeperiod.

The message transmission engine 245 formats messages in appropriateforms, applies certain communication protocols and transmits themessages to message recipients 130. In some embodiments, the messagetransmission engine 245 may receive text and images of a message payloadfrom a message publisher 120. For example, the message publisher 120 maydesign a message using an application provided by the message managementserver 110. Certain message channels and user computing devices 132 mayrequire a message format in order for the message to be transmitted. Forexample, an SMS message may not contain an image. The format of a pushnotification may depend on the operating system of the user computingdevice 132. The appearances of certain messages may also be affected bythe display resolution of the user computing devices 132. The messagetransmission engine 245 may package a message payload based on theselected channel. The message transmission engine 245 may convert thepayload to an appropriate format that is compatible with a messagechannel, such as JSON, XML, key-value pairs, HTML, etc. Certain channelsmay also be associated with specific communication protocols. Forexample, emails may use standard mail protocols, such as Simple MailTransfer Protocol (SMTP). A message may also need certain headers to betransmitted. The message transmission engine 245 may generate themessage payload and convert the payload to one or more network packetsto be sent to the message recipients 130.

The message transmission engine 245 may also check rules and timing thatmay restrict the transmission of a message to a specific messagerecipient 130. For example, a message publisher 120 or a messagerecipient 130 may restrict the timing for transmitting certain messages(e.g., a do-not-disturb period). There may also be other rules thatrestrict the transmission of messages to certain recipients 130.

The front-end interface engine 250 may be a software applicationinterface that is provided and operated by the message management server110. For example, the message management server 110 may provide asoftware system for message publishers 120 to design and manage variousmessages, message series, and message campaigns. Examples of the GUIelements of the front-end interface engine 250 are shown in FIG. 5Athrough FIG. 5E. The application provided by the message managementserver 110 may be distinguished from the application 134 shown inFIG. 1. The application provided by the message management server 110may be an application for message publishers 120 to manage their messagecampaigns. In contrast, the application 134 may be provided by a messagepublisher 120 for its end users. For example, the application 134 may bea retail business application in which users can purchase items andmanage coupons. The application provided by the message managementserver 110 provides a management platform for the retail businessapplication to manage its message campaigns, such as promotional andmarketing messages to be sent to end users.

The front-end interface engine 250 may take different forms. In oneembodiment, the front-end interface engine 250 may control or incommunication with an application that is installed in a client device125. For example, the application may be a cloud-based SaaS or asoftware application that can be downloaded in an application store(e.g., APPLE APP STORE, ANDROID STORE). The front-end interface engine250 may be a front-end software application that can be installed, run,and/or displayed at a client device 125. The front-end interface engine250 also may take the form of a webpage interface of the messagemanagement server 110 to allow message publishers 120 to access data andresults through web browsers. In another embodiment, the front-endinterface engine 250 may not include graphical elements but may provideother ways to communicate with message publishers 120, such as throughAPIs. The API may be in compliance with any common API standards such asRepresentational State Transfer (REST), query-based API, Webhooks, etc.The data transferred through the API may be in formats such as JSON andXML.

Example Message Object Hierarchy

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example message objecthierarchy that may be used with the message management server 110, inaccordance with some embodiments. A primary message plan 310 may includemultiple series 320. The primary message plan 310 may also be referredto as a message campaign. Each message series 320 may be referred to asa message journey. Each message series 320 may include one or moremessages.

The message series 320 in the primary message plan 310 may be connectedin any suitable ways, branched or linear, cyclic or acyclic. The primarymessage plan 310 may be associated with a set of target recipientcriteria that specify which candidate message recipients 130 may enterthe message campaign associated with the primary message plan 310. Theselection criteria may also be the triggering condition of the firstmessage series A in the primary message plan 310. For example, acandidate message recipient 130 who meets the trigger condition of thefirst message series A will receive the first message in the messageseries A and be enrolled in the primary message plan 310. Each messageseries 320 may be associated with an end condition that is discussedabove with reference to the message series management engine 225 in FIG.2. In some embodiments, a message series 320 may include two or morealternative end conditions, such as the condition 1 and the condition 2shown in FIG. 3. The message management server 110 may enroll themessage recipient 130 to another message series based on the fulfillmentof one of the alternative conditions. In some embodiments, except thefirst message series A, other message series' start condition may be theend condition of the preceding message series based on the branching andconnections among the message series 320.

The end condition of a message series 320 may be a goal of the messageseries 320. For example, the goal of sending a series of messages to amessage recipient 130 may be to induce the recipient to perform acertain action. The message management server 110 may receive eventnotification from a user computing device 132 or from the messagepublisher 120. The action of the message recipient 130 meeting the endcondition of a message series 320 may be a goal of the message series320. The inaction of the message recipient 130 may be end condition ofthe same message series 320. Based on the end condition, the messagerecipient 130 is routed to another succeeding message series 320. Basedon the end conditions of various message series 320, the primary messageplan 310 provides a goal-to-goal branching of message series 320.

Each message series 320 may include one or more messages 330 that may beconnected in any suitable ways, branched or linear, cyclic or acyclic. Amessage publisher 120 may arrange the order and branching of themessages 330 and compose each message 330. The message publisher 120 maydesign the payload 332, the channel setting 334, and the conditions 336triggering a specific message. The message payload 332 may include text,image contents, and multimedia contents such as voice, videos, andmusic. The channel setting 334 may be based on the channel selectionrules as discussed above with reference to the orchestration strategymanagement engine 220. The message publisher 120 may also specifycriteria related to channel retargeting or allow the message managementserver 110 to automatically perform the channel retargeting. The messagepublishers 120 may also specify the conditions 336 for triggering amessage 330 to be sent. The conditions 336 may specify that a succeedingmessage is sent automatically or after a time delay. The conditions 336may also specify a mobile event notification for the triggering of aspecial message. A message 330 may be skipped if the conditions 336 arenot met. Other possible conditions are discussed above with reference tothe message series management engine 225.

Example Message Series Composition Process and GUI

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting an example process 400 for the messagemanagement server 110 to provide an interface for a message publisher120 to compose and launch a message series 320, in accordance with someembodiments. FIG. 5A through FIG. 5E are example illustrations ofgraphical user interfaces provided by the message management server 110for a message publisher 120 to compose a message series 320, inaccordance with some embodiments. FIG. 4 is discussed in conjunctionwith FIG. 5A through FIG. 5E.

The message management server 110 may cause 410 a GUI to be displayed ata client device 125 of a message publisher 120. The GUI may include aplurality of control elements for the message publisher 120 to build aplan for a message series 320. For example, the GUI may include controlelements, which may be arranged in a sequence such as a wizard, to allowthe message publisher 120 to build a message series 320. The messageseries 320 may be defined by a series of rules and logic for the messagemanagement server 110 to automatically transmit one or more messages toa plurality of target end users (target message recipients) on behalf ofthe message publisher 120 when certain conditions are met. In oneembodiment, the GUI may take a form of a web browser application. Inanother embodiment, the GUI may take the form of a software application(e.g., a mobile application) published by the message management server110 and installed on a client device 125 of the message publisher 120.

A message publisher 120 may build a message series 320 that specifiesthe conditions, target end users (examples of message recipients 130),and channels 150 for a series of messages to be automaticallytransmitted the message management server 110 in a period of time inresponse to one or more conditions being met. In one embodiment, themessage series 320 may be associated with an initial trigger that marksthe initiation of an instance of the message series 320 beingimplemented for an end user. The message management server 110 maymonitor events associated with end users and determine if an event thatmeets the conditions of the initial trigger occurs at one or more endusers who fit the criteria as specified by the message publisher 120. Inresponse to the initial trigger, the message management server 110 mayimplement the message series at the target end user by sending aninitial message to the target end user via a first channel 150. Themessage management server 110 may continue to monitor the events andactivities of the target end user to determine if additional conditionsspecified in the message series 320 are met. Additional messages areautomatically transmitted by the message management server 110 inresponse to that events and activities that meet the additionalconditions are detected. The events and activities of the end users maybe monitored by the event management engine 215 as discussed above.

The message management server 110 may operate or be in communicationwith a GUI for the message publisher 120 to build a plan for the messageseries 320. The GUI may include a landing page, which allows the messagepublisher to select to build a new message series 320. The messagepublisher 120 may select to create a new message series 320. Inresponse, the GUI may display a plurality of control elements that maybe arranged in a sequence to allow the message publisher 120 to buildthe message series 320 step by step.

Referring to FIG. 5A, the GUI may display a first subset of controlelements 502 that correspond to a plurality of candidate triggers 504. Acandidate trigger may specify one or more rules that define conditionsin which the message series 320 will be started to be implemented at atarget end user who will receive an initial message in the messageseries and potentially additional messages if more conditions are met.The message management server 110 may receive 420, from a messagepublisher 120, a selection of a trigger for the message series 320.

There may be one or more types of candidate triggers. A GUI may includeone or more of the following candidate triggers. For example, acandidate trigger may be a risk category trigger. The message managementserver 110 may define a plurality of risk levels based on events of endusers. The message management server 110 may define one or more metricsthat quantify the events associated with a particular end user andclassifies the end user to one of the risk levels. As various eventsoccurred at the end user, the risk level may change. The risk categorytrigger may be triggered in response to the end user entering a targetrisk level.

Another candidate trigger may be a tag change trigger. The messagemanagement server 110 may identify an end user by a unique identifierand may associate the end user with a plurality of metadata tags. Thetag change trigger may be triggered in response to a tag is added orremoved. Another candidate trigger may be an inactivity trigger. Themessage management server 110 may monitor activities of a mobileapplication 134 or an end user's webpage visit. An inactivity triggermay be triggered in response to the application 134 has been inactivefor a duration or an end user has not visited a webpage for a duration.

Another candidate trigger may also be a first-seen trigger that may betriggered in response to an end user first opens a mobile application orfirst opts in on a website, email, SMS, or an open channel. Anothercandidate trigger may be a location trigger that may be triggered inresponse to an end user device entering or exiting a location. Anothercandidate trigger may be a location attribute trigger that may betriggered in response to an end user device entering or exiting alocation with predefined attributes. Another candidate trigger may be anevent trigger that may be triggered in response to the detection of anevent. An event notification may be provided to the message managementserver 110 from the message publisher 120, from a third party, or via amobile event notification.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 5A, the message management server 110 maycause the GUI to display other control elements that allow the messagepublisher 120 to customize one or more rules 506 specified in thetrigger that is selected by the message publisher 120. The rules mayspecify one or more conditions on how the message series 320 isimplemented and how the initial message may be sent. For example, themessage publisher 120 may set a delayed delivery for the initial messageafter a triggering event occurs. The message publisher 120 may also seta time interval for the initial message to be sent. In one embodiment,the message publisher 120 also may specify the date range of thetransmission of the initial message.

In some embodiments, the message publisher 120 further may impose one ormore rules or limitations 508 on the transmission of the initial messageor on the implementation of the same message series 320 on the same enduser. For example, the GUI may include a control element that allows themessage publisher 120 to select a limit on a number of the messageseries 320 to be sent to the same end user within a time interval.

In some embodiments, the message management server 110 may cause the GUIto provide options for the message publisher 120 to select one or morecriteria of target end users. In one case, the criteria for selectingtarget end users may be standardized and suggested by the messagemanagement server 110. In another case, the criteria may be customizedby the message publisher 120. The collection of customized criteria maybe saved in one or more customized profiles. In addition, the messagepublisher 120 may add a rule that specifies one or more metadata tagsthat are associated with a candidate end user. The metadata tags may beused to include or exclude the candidate end user as the target enduser. For example, the message publisher 120 may specify end users witha tag “football” to be the message recipients 130.

To continue to allow the message publisher 120 to build a message series320, the message management server 110 may cause 430 the GUI to displaya message plan builder 520 that includes certain control elements. FIG.5B is an example of the GUI displaying a message plan builder 520. Themessage plan builder 520 provides information on various messages in themessage series 320. The message publisher 120 may the message settingsincluding triggering criteria for the message, target recipientselection criteria, channel selection rules and the message payloadthrough the message composer. The message publisher 120, via the messageseries preview, may add, modified, and delete any messages in themessage series 320.

The triggering criteria for the message are the conditions when amessage will be sent. The triggering criteria may be based on time, suchas the amount of time lapse after a condition is met before the messageis sent. The triggering criteria may also be event-based criteria. Thetarget recipient selection criteria may be metadata tag based. Forexample, the criteria may specify that the candidate recipients willneed to include or exclude certain metadata tags to receive the message.Other suitable criteria for triggering conditions and recipientselection are discussed above with reference to the message seriesmanagement engine 225 in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 5C, for each message, the message publisher 120 maychoose one or more channels 150 for the message to be transmitted. Inone case, the message publisher 120 may specify that all messages in themessage series 320 to be sent in the same channels 150. In another case,the message publisher 120 may construct a plan of message orchestration,which specifies various messages in the message series 320 to be sentvia a different channel 150.

The selection of channels 150 may be based on various factors. In onecase, the message publisher 120 may select the channels 150 for eachmessage. In another case, the message publisher 120 may specify theselection of channels 150 based on time. For example, the messagepublisher 120 may select text messaging for daytime communications andemails for nighttime communications. In yet another case, the messagepublisher 120 may specify the selection of channels 150 based on tagsassociated with a target end user. For example, before a message issent, the message management server 110 may determine the tags that areassociated with the target and select the channels 150.

In some embodiments, the message publisher 120 may also select thechannels 150 based on the conditions met. For example, the messagepublisher 120 may specify that one of the messages will be sent if oneof two alternative conditions are met. The message publisher 120 mayspecify the message be sent via a first channel 150 when a firstcondition is met and via a second channel 150 when a second conditionalis met.

The message publisher 120 also may select a plurality of channels 150and allow the message management server 110 to decide the channel 150before a message is sent. The message management server 110 may selectthe channel 150 based on the type of event notifications received by themessage management server 110, historical activities of the target enduser, and other events and activities associated with the target enduser and/or the nature of the message series 320. For example, anexample source of notifications that allows the message managementserver 110 to monitor events that might meet a condition in the messageseries 320 may be mobile event notifications that are transmitted froman electronic device or an IOT device associated with the end user. Themessage management server 110 may select a channel 150 based on themobile event notification received. For example, the message managementserver 110 may select to use a push notification channel when an eventnotification that meets a condition is recently transmitted from amobile application indicating that the end user is active in using themobile application. In another example, the message management server110 may select to use text messaging when an event notification thatmeets a condition is transmitted from a web browser associated with acell phone. The message management server 110 also may select a channel150 based on the last active events. In other cases, the messagemanagement server 110 may select a channel 150 based on the end user'sactivities. For example, data regarding historical mobile applicationlifecycle events associated with the target end user may indicate thatthe end user is most active in using the mobile application between 7 pmand 9 pm daily. The message management server 110 may choose to send amessage through an in-application message during the timeframe andthrough another channel 150 during another time. Other suitable ways,such as fan-out, for the message management server 110 to intelligentlyselect a channel 150 is also possible. More discussions of channelselection rules are discussed above with reference to the orchestrationstrategy management engine 220 in FIG. 2.

The message management server 110 may cause GUI to provide a selectionof end condition of an instance of the message series 320. For example,an end condition may specify that an instance of the message series 320ends after the messages in the message series are sent to an end user.In another example, an end condition may specify that an instance of themessage series ends when an event occurs. For example, the messageseries 320 may be associated with a promotion. The end condition mayspecify that the instance associated with an end user ends when the enduser makes a purchase or the end user converts by clicking on a linkthat brings the end user to a product page or a landing page of aretailer. An instance of message series 320 may refer to animplementation of the message series 320 on a particular end user. Forexample, an instance may end with an end user when another instance maystill be ongoing for another end user. In some embodiments, a messageseries 320 may also be associated with a time limit, which could be usedas a default end condition for an instance of message series 320 afterthe initial message is sent.

The message management server 110 may cause 440 the GUI to display amessage composer for a message publisher 120 to specify the informationand content related to a message payload 332. FIG. 5D is a conceptualdiagram illustrating an example message composer 540. The GUI has aninput field 542 for the message publisher 120 to input the text of themessage. The GUI may provide a simulation 546 of the actual appearanceof the message in an end user device that receives the message via aparticular channel 150. The GUI may provide a selection 548 of potentialend user device models. Upon a change in the selection of the end userdevice model, the GUI re-render another simulation of the actualappearance of the message based on the device model and the resolutionof the device model. In some cases, certain types of channels or certaindevice models may not support certain formats or have limitations on themessage payload (e.g., a certain channel may only support text and mayresize an image in the message), the message management server 110 takesinto account of those limitations in rendering the simulation. In themessage composer 540, the message publisher 120 may also specify amessage action 550 that defines where the end user should be directedwhen they take action on the message (e.g., tap on a push notificationor an in-application message). The destination may be an URL, anapplication home screen, and launching another action. Through themessage composer, the message publisher 120 may also specify otherfeatures 552 related to a message such as including an interactivebutton, a title of the message, a summary, and multimedia contents.

The message management server 110 may generate 450 a summary in the formof a message series preview 560. FIG. 5E is a conceptual diagramillustrating an example GUI that includes the message series preview560. The previews of the messages may be shown as graphical elements andare arranged in the order of the message series. Each message preview562 may include two sides. On the front side 564, a simulation of theactual appearance of the message based on a selection of the devicemodel is displayed. The message publisher 120 may select a messagepreview and turn the message to a flip side 566. In turn, the GUIdisplays the message settings and includes control elements for themessage publisher 120 to adjust the message settings. The GUI in thesummary page may also include other information such as the targetingconditions of a message, a time delay between messages, and a controlelement 568 for the message publisher to add a new message in theseries.

The GUI on the summary page may also include a control element 570 toallow the message publisher 120 to toggle between launching and pausinga message series 320. After a message series 320 is built, the messagepublisher 120 may launch the plan. The message management server 110 mayreceive 460 a command from the message publisher 120 to start a messageseries. The message management server 110 may automatically identify 470target end users as message recipients 130 and transmit messages to thetarget end users based on the message series 320. The GUI may providesummary statistics of the message series 320 after the series islaunched. For example, the message management server 110 may implement aplurality of instances of the message series 320, each instanceassociated with a message recipient 130. The message management server110 may monitor the number of instances that meet the end condition asspecified by the message publisher 120 before the expiration of theinstance. The message management server 110 may generate a reportsummarizing the effectiveness of the message series 320. The messagemanagement server 110 may also provide real-time statistics in GUI.

In some embodiments, to initiate an instance of the message series 320associated with a message recipient 130, the message management server110 may monitor 470 events of various candidate end users to determineif the trigger of the message series 320 is met. The message managementserver 110 may monitor various candidate end users in different possibleways. In one case, the message management server 110 may provide an SDKto the message publisher 120 to develop a mobile application 134. Theapplication 134 may be available for the end user to download andinstall at the end user's computing devices 132. In one case, theapplication 134 monitors the lifecycle events of the application, suchas opening the application, using the application, closing theapplication, etc. and transmits mobile event notifications to themessage management server 110. In another case, the IoT devices may beassociated with one or more users and may also transmit differentnotifications to the message management server 110. In yet another case,the message management server 110 may rely on identifiers such ascookies, browser identifiers, mobile device identifiers to identify andmonitor events associated with end users. The message management server110 may also receive location data of the end users. In yet anothercase, the message management server 110 may cooperate with third partiesto receive data related to the end users. The message management server110 may identify an end user using a unique identifier and associate oneor more metadata tags with the unique identifier as the messagemanagement server 110 receives event notifications from various sources.

The message management server 110 may compare one or more eventnotification to one or more rules specified in the initial trigger ofthe message series 320. In response to one of the event notificationsmatching the rules, the message management server 110 may identify theend user associated with the event notification. The message managementserver 110 may also check any additional limitations specified by themessage publisher 120 regarding target end users. For example, themessage publisher 120 may include or exclude certain metadata tags. Ifthe message management server 110 confirms that the end user fits thecriteria of a target end user, the message management server 110 mayimplement the message series 320 on the end user and create 480 aninstance of the message series 320 with respect to the end user andtransmit an initial message to the end user.

The message management server 110 may continue 490 to monitor additionalevent notifications to determine whether conditions for a second messagein the message series 320 are met. In response to the conditions for thesecond message being met, the message management server 110 may transmitthe second message and continue to implement the plan until an endcondition specified by the message publisher 120 is met. The messagemanagement server 110 may also determine the channel 150 used to send amessage and may send various messages via different channels 150.

Example Message Channel Re-Targeting Process

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting an example process 600 for a messagemanagement server 110 to perform message channel re-targeting, inaccordance with some embodiments. In some cases, a message recipient 130may tend to be more active and responsive for messages that are sentfrom some channels 150 while ignoring or being inactive for messagesthat are sent from other channels 150. For example, while an end usermay have an application 134 installed in one of the user computingdevices 132, the end user may seldom or never open or use theapplication 134. For messages sent via certain channels 150, such aspush notifications or in-application messages, the end user may not readthe message or react to the message because the channels 150 may beassociated with the application 134 that the user rarely use. A messagepublisher 120 may specify a message to be sent via those channels 150.The messages will be ineffective with respect to getting the user'saction and inducing the user to take certain actions. In such cases, themessage management server 110 may perform channel re-targeting to sendthe message through an alternative channel that is less reliant orunrelated to the application 134.

In some embodiments, the message management server 110 may receive 610 achannel selection rule from a message publisher 120 to send a messagevia a first channel. The message management server 110 may identify 620a message recipient 130 based on the recipient selection criteria set bythe message publisher. The message management server 110 may retrieve630 records of historical actions of the message recipient 130 withrespect to actions that are related to an application. The records maybe based on mobile event notifications sent to the message managementserver 110, cookies of the message recipient 130, and other sources asdiscussed in this disclosure. The message management server 110 maydetermine 640 a likelihood of churn of the message recipient 130 withrespect to the first channel based on the historical actions. Inresponse to the likelihood of churn being higher than a threshold, themessage management server 110 may transmit 650 the message via a secondchannel that is different from the first channel. The second channel isan alternative channel that is less reliant on the application. Themessage publisher 120 may specify the second channel or the messagemanagement server 110 may automatically select the second channel.

The channel re-targeting may be used for any messages in a messageseries 320 or a primary message plan 310. The channel re-targeting maybe a feature that can be selected by a message publisher 120 as achannel selection rule. Other features related to the channelre-targeting are discussed above with reference to FIG. 2 through FIG.5E.

Example Goal-to-Goal Branching Message Campaign

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting an example process 700 for the messagemanagement server 110 to implement a primary message plan 310, inaccordance with some embodiments. FIGS. 8 and 9 are conceptual diagramsillustrating example GUIs for displaying primary message plans and theiranalytics, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 7 is discussed inconjunction with FIGS. 8 and 9.

In some embodiments, the message management server 110 provides a GUIfor a message publisher 120 to design a primary message plan 310. FIG. 8is an example of a visual representation of a primary message plan 310,according to an embodiment. The message management server 110 mayprovide a platform (e.g., an online application) for various messagepublishers 120 to design and build one or more primary message plans310. The primary message plan 310 may be displayed at a GUI of a clientdevice 125 of a message publisher 120. The visual representation of aprimary message plan 310 may include multiple nodes 810 and edges 820.The nodes are represented by the rectangular boxes. Each node representsa message series 320. An edge connecting two nodes represents atransition between two message series 320.

The message management server 110 may store 710 the primary message plan310 that includes a parent message series that is branched into at leasta first child message series based on a first condition and a secondchild message series based on a second condition. At least one of themessage series 320 may include multiple messages to be distributed andmay be associated with one or more goals that represent end conditionsof a message series 320. Some of the message series 320 may havemultiple goals and are connected to two or more child message series320. The primary message plan 310 may be branched and may be referred toas goal-to-goal branching. For example, in FIG. 8, the primary messageplan 310 may be designed by a message publisher 120 that is a bank. Afirst node labeled as “Create Bank Account” may be a parent messageseries that is branched to a first child message series labeled as “MakeFirst Deposit” and to a second child message series labeled as “MemberBenefits.” The parent message series “Create Bank Account” may beassociated with a goal of getting an end user to click on a webpage linkfor creating a bank account. The parent message series may be associatedwith a first condition of a user clicking the webpage link and a secondcondition of a user not clicking the webpage link after a specifiedperiod. A user meeting the first condition will be brought to a firstchild message series, in which a series of one or more messagesassociated with “Make First Deposit” is sent to the user. A user meetingthe second condition will be brought to a second child message series,in which another series of one or more messages associated with “MemberBenefits” are sent to the user.

A message publisher 120 may build and edit the primary message plan 310via a GUI that visually represents the primary message plan 310 or viaother suitable methods such as API, uploading code that carries theplan, etc. In FIG. 8, a message publisher 120 may select one of themessage series 320 by clicking on the node representing the messageseries 320. In response, the GUI displays a wizard to build or edit theselected message series 320. Examples of the wizard to build or edit amessage series 320 are discussed above with reference to FIG. 5A through5E. In the wizard, the message publisher 120 can define one or moreconditions of meeting goals of the message series 320. The messagepublisher 120 can also link two or more message series 320 together. Insome cases, at least one of the message series 320 in the primarymessage plan 310 is a channel orchestration message series 320 thatspecifies messages in the series to be distributed via a plurality ofchannels 150.

Each message series 320 may be a journey that includes multiple messagesto be sent to a user in different time frames or to be sent in responseto the occurrence of certain events identified in the message series320. A journey of message series 320 may be completed in one of severalways, including conversion event, cancellation event, journeycompletion, etc. In the conversion event and the cancellation event, themessage series 320 may be ended and transitioned to another downstreammessage series 320 in the primary message plan 310 at any time when theconversion event or the cancellation event is detected. The messageseries 320 may also end when the final message defined in the messageseries 320 is sent or when the journal reaches the time limit. Thecompletion of a journey of the message series 320 may be followed byanother journey as defined in the primary message plan 310.

After one or more message series 320 that have end conditions definedare linked together, the message publisher 120 may switch to a map viewthat shows the graphical representation of the primary message plan 310and the connections among the message series 320, as shown in FIG. 8.Each message series 320 or the overall primary message plan 310 may beassociated with a command button that allows the message publisher 120to start, pause, and resume the message series 320 or the primarymessage plan 310. When a primary message plan 310 is being executed, themessage management server 110 may provide analytics 830 of the primarymessage plan 310 to the message publisher 120. FIG. 9 is an example of amap view of the primary message plan 310 and the analytics 910 provided.For example, in the node “Predicted to Churn: Come Back & shop,” themessage series 320 has “3 messages spanning 12 days.” 28,955 users arein process of this message series 320. Other example analytics may bethe conversion rate and the change in conversion rate, which aredisplayed as 4.7% and minus 0.4%. The analytics may be updated inreal-time as the primary message plan 310 is implemented.

In response to receiving a command from the message publisher 120 toexecute the primary message plan 310, the message management server 110distributes 720 messages specified in one or more message series 320 toa plurality of message recipients 130. For example, the primary messageplan 310 may include a parent message series, which includes a triggerthat specifies what kinds of users, user actions, and/or events maytrigger the first message in the parent message series to be sent to auser. The message management server 110 receives data and informationrelated to different users. In response to the trigger being met, themessage management server 110 distributes the first message in theparent message series to those users. The message management server 110continues to receive various user data as different users may progressthrough various journeys defined by the primary message plan 310 atdifferent paces. The message management server 110 continues todistribute different messages specified in various message series 320 todifferent users. The message publisher 120 may pause or resume thedistribution process.

As the message management server 110 continues to distribute messagesvia a plurality of channels 150, the message management server 110 mayreceive 730 notifications of user actions associated with eventsspecified in one or more message series 320. Some notifications mayindicate that certain users meet one or more end conditions of a messageseries 320 to move on to the next message series 320 in the primarymessage plan 310. For example, the message management server 110 mayreceive notifications of user actions associated with events specifiedin a parent message series. A first notification may indicate that afirst user meets a first condition of the parent message series. Asecond notification may indicate that a second user meets the secondcondition of the parent message series. Based on the primary messageplan 310, the message management server 110 transmits 740 one or moremessages in a first child message series to the first user. Based on thebranching of the primary message plan 310, the message management server110 transmits 750 one or more messages in a second child message seriesto the second user.

As the message management server 110 distributes messages to varioususers, the message management server 110 may also provide analytics ofthe primary message plan 310. The message management server 110 maycause a GUI that displays the map of the primary message plan 310 topresent the analytics as the execution of the primary message plan 310continues to develop, as shown in FIG. 9. In some embodiments, theanalytics may be in real-time and include various metrics of eachmessage series 320. For example, in each node of the map of the primarymessage plan 310, the GUI may display the number of users who arecurrently in the message series 320. For a message series 320 that hastwo or more conditions, the analytics may also be the percentage ofusers who meet the first condition and who meet the second conditionrespectively. The analytics may also be the conversion rate of aparticular journey.

Computing Machine Architecture

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of an examplecomputing machine that is capable of reading instructions from acomputer-readable medium and execute them in a processor (orcontroller). A computer described herein may include a single computingmachine shown in FIG. 10, a virtual machine, a distributed computingsystem that includes multiples nodes of computing machines shown in FIG.10, or any other suitable arrangement of computing devices.

By way of example, FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of acomputing machine in the example form of a computer system 1000 withinwhich instructions 1024 (e.g., software, source code, program code,bytecode, or machine code), which may be stored in a computer-readablemedium for causing the machine to perform any one or more of theprocesses discussed herein may be executed. In some embodiments, thecomputing machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine may operate in the capacity of a server machine or a clientmachine in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine ina peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The structure of a computing machine described in FIG. 10 may correspondto any software, hardware, or combined components shown in FIGS. 1 and2, including but not limited to, the message management server 110, theclient device 125, the user computing device 132 and various engines,interfaces, terminals, and machines shown in FIG. 2. While FIG. 10 showsvarious hardware and software elements, each of the components describedin FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 may include additional or fewer elements. Further,the instructions may correspond to the functionality of components andinterfaces described with FIGS. 1-9.

By way of example, a computing machine may be a personal computer (PC),a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a smartphone, a web appliance, a network router, aninternet of things (IoT) device, a switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions 1024 that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” and “computer” may also be taken to include anycollection of machines that individually or jointly execute instructions1024 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 1000 includes one or more processors 1002such as a CPU (central processing unit), a GPU (graphics processingunit), a TPU (tensor processing unit), a DSP (digital signal processor),a system on a chip (SOC), a controller, a state machine, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA), or any combination of these. Parts of the computingsystem 1000 may also include a memory 1004 that store computer codeincluding instructions 1024 that may cause the processors 1002 toperform certain actions when the instructions are executed, directly orindirectly by the processors 1002. Instructions can be any directions,commands, or orders that may be stored in different forms, such asequipment-readable instructions, programming instructions includingsource code, and other communication signals and orders. Instructionsmay be used in a general sense and are not limited to machine-readablecodes.

One and more methods described herein improve the operation speed of theprocessors 1002 and reduces the space required for the memory 1004. Forexample, the methods described herein reduce the complexity of thecomputation of the processors 1002 by applying one or more noveltechniques that simplify the steps in training, reaching convergence,and generating results of the processors 1002. The algorithms describedherein also reduces the size of the models and datasets to reduce thestorage space requirement for memory 1004.

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe more than processors, not only residing within a single machine, butdeployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, theone or more processors or processor-implemented modules may be locatedin a single geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theone or more processors or processor-implemented modules may bedistributed across a number of geographic locations. Even though in thespecification or the claims may refer some processes to be performed bya processor, this should be construed to include a joint operation ofmultiple distributed processors.

The computer system 1000 may include a main memory 1004, and a staticmemory 1006, which are configured to communicate with each other via abus 1008. The computer system 1000 may further include a graphicsdisplay unit 1010 (e.g., a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The graphicsdisplay unit 1010, controlled by the processors 1002, displays a GUI(GUI) to display one or more results and data generated by the processesdescribed herein. The computer system 1000 may also include analphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 1014 (e.g., a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, oranother pointing instrument), a storage unit 1016 (a hard drive, a solidstate drive, a hybrid drive, a memory disk, etc.), a signal generationdevice 1018 (e.g., a speaker), and a network interface device 1020,which also are configured to communicate via the bus 1008.

The storage unit 1016 includes a computer-readable medium 1022 on whichis stored instructions 1024 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1024 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory1004 or within the processor 1002 (e.g., within a processor's cachememory) during execution thereof by the computer system 1000, the mainmemory 1004 and the processor 1002 also constituting computer-readablemedia. The instructions 1024 may be transmitted or received over anetwork 1026 via the network interface device 1020.

While computer-readable medium 1022 is shown in an example embodiment tobe a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” should be takento include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storeinstructions (e.g., instructions 1024). The computer-readable medium mayinclude any medium that is capable of storing instructions (e.g.,instructions 1024) for execution by the processors (e.g., processors1002) and that causes the processors to perform any one or more of themethodologies disclosed herein. The computer-readable medium mayinclude, but not be limited to, data repositories in the form ofsolid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media. Thecomputer-readable medium does not include a transitory medium such as apropagating signal or a carrier wave.

Additional Considerations

Beneficially, the message management server provides a platform forvarious message publishers to delegate the task of distributing messagesvia various channels to the message management server. Transmission ofmessages through different channels may be technically challenging formany organizations because each channel may have its own requirement,communication protocol, infrastructure with which organizations may notbe equipped. By providing a user-friendly user interface to the messagepublishers for them to build message series, the message managementserver manages the technical difficulties for the message publishers.The appearance, contents, and overall feeling of the message may bechanged significantly when a different channel is used to deliver themessage. The graphical user interface may also provide simulations ofthe messages as rendered in end users' computing devices, therebyproviding the message publishers with previews of the messages thatcould have dramatically different appearances when transmitted viadifferent channels and rendered in different operating systems andmodels of computing devices.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in therelevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations arepossible in light of the above disclosure.

Embodiments according to the invention are in particular disclosed inthe attached claims directed to a method and a computer program product,wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g. method, can beclaimed in another claim category, e.g. computer program product,system, storage medium, as well. The dependencies or references back inthe attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, anysubject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to anyprevious claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed aswell, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof isdisclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen inthe attached claims. The subject-matter which can be claimed comprisesnot only the combinations of features as set out in the disclosedembodiments but also any other combination of features from differentembodiments. Various features mentioned in the different embodiments canbe combined with explicit mentioning of such combination or arrangementin an example embodiment. Furthermore, any of the embodiments andfeatures described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claimand/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described ordepicted herein or with any of the features.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These operations and algorithmic descriptions, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as engines, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedengines may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software engines,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware engine is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described. The term “steps” doesnot mandate or imply a particular order. For example, while thisdisclosure may describe a process that includes multiple stepssequentially with arrows present in a flowchart, the steps in theprocess do not need to be performed by the specific order claimed ordescribed in the disclosure. Some steps may be performed before otherseven though the other steps are claimed or described first in thisdisclosure.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein. In addition, the term “each” used in thespecification and claims does not imply that every or all elements in agroup need to fit the description associated with the term “each.” Forexample, “each member is associated with element A” does not imply thatall members are associated with an element A. Instead, the term “each”only implies that a member (of some of the members), in a singular form,is associated with an element A.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the patent rights. It istherefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not bythis detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thepatent rights.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a graphical user interfaceconfigured to: receive selections, from a message publisher, to build amessage series, an initial message in the message series selected to besent via a short messaging service (SMS) and an additional message inthe message series selected to be sent via a communication channel, theadditional message associated with a trigger condition that monitors auser action performable in relation to the initial message sent via theSMS, and generate a message series preview of the message series, themessage series preview comprising a simulation of the additional messageas would be rendered in a user computing device received via thecommunication channel; and a message management server, the messagemanagement server comprising one or more processors and memory storinginstructions, the instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to: enable the graphicaluser interface for display at a client device of the message publisherfor the message publisher to build the message series, receive a commandfrom the client device of the message publisher to launch the messageseries, and transmit the initial message to an end user computing devicevia SMS; determine, responsive to a user of the end user computingdevice performing the user action in relation to the initial messagetransmitted via the SMS, that the trigger condition is met; and transmitthe additional message to the end user computing device via thecommunication channel.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user actionperformable in relation to the initial message transmitted via the SMSis one of viewing the initial message or responding to the initialmessage.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial message is sentto the end user computing device based on one or more triggerconditions, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one ormore processors of the message management server, further cause the oneor more processors to: receive one or more mobile event notificationstransmitted from a plurality of end user computing devices; compare theone or more mobile event notifications to the one or more triggerconditions; and select, responsive to one of the mobile eventnotifications matching the one or more trigger conditions, the end usercomputing device from the plurality of end user computing devices as arecipient of the initial message.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein theone or more trigger conditions are selected from one or more of thefollowing: a tag change trigger that is triggered responsive to a tagbeing added or removed; an inactivity trigger that is triggeredresponsive to a mobile application associated with an end user beinginactive for a duration; a first-seen trigger that is triggeredresponsive to an end user first opening a mobile application or opts inon a website, email, SMS, or an open channel; a location trigger that istriggered responsive to an end user device entering or exiting alocation; a risk category trigger that classifies an end user to one ofa plurality of risk levels and is triggered responsive to the end userentering a target risk level; a location attribute trigger that istriggered responsive to an end user device entering or exiting alocation with predefined attributes; and an event trigger that istriggered responsive to a detection of an event.
 5. The system of claim1, wherein rendering the simulation by the graphical user interface isselectable for different device models of the user computing device. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by theone or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:enable updating of the graphical user interface to show statisticsrelated to distribution of the message series.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the communication channel is one of the following: the SMS usedto transmit the initial message; an additional SMS; an email protocol; apush notification protocol; an in-application message; an instantmessaging application; or a social networking system.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, further cause the one or more processors to: receive, fromthe message publisher via the graphical user interface, a plurality ofend conditions of the message series, the end conditions comprising: afirst end condition specifying that the message series ends after theinitial and additional messages in the message series are sent; and asecond end condition specifying that the message series ends when anevent occurs.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical userinterface includes a toggle for the message publisher to select betweenlaunching the message series and pausing the message series.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method, comprising: enabling a graphical userinterface for display at a client device of a message publisher for themessage publisher to build a message series; receiving selections, viathe graphical user interface from the message publisher, to build themessage series, an initial message in the message series selected to besent via a short messaging service (SMS) and an additional message inthe message series selected to be sent via a communication channel, theadditional message associated with a trigger condition that monitors auser action performable in relation to the initial message sent via theSMS; enabling the graphical user interface for display a message seriespreview of the message series, the message series preview comprising asimulation of the additional message as would be rendered in the usercomputing device received via the communication channel; receiving acommand from the client device of the message publisher to launch themessage series; transmitting the initial message to one or more end usercomputing devices of message recipients via the SMS; determining,responsive to a user of the end user computing device performing theuser action in relation to the initial message transmitted via the SMS,that the trigger condition is met; and transmitting the additionalmessage to the end user computing device via the communication channel.12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the user actionperformable in relation to the initial message transmitted via the SMSis one of viewing the initial message or responding to the initialmessage.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theinitial message is sent to the end user computing device based on one ormore trigger conditions, and further comprising: receiving one or moremobile event notifications transmitted from a plurality of end usercomputing devices; comparing the one or more mobile event notificationsto the one or more trigger conditions; and selecting, responsive to oneof the mobile event notifications matching the one or more triggerconditions, the end user computing device from the plurality of end usercomputing devices as a recipient of the initial message.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the one or more triggerconditions are selected from one or more of the following: a tag changetrigger that is triggered responsive to a tag being added or removed; aninactivity trigger that is triggered responsive to a mobile applicationassociated with an end user being inactive for a duration; a first-seentrigger that is triggered responsive to an end user first opening amobile application or opts in on a website, email, SMS, or an openchannel; a location trigger that is triggered responsive to an end userdevice entering or exiting a location; a risk category trigger thatclassifies an end user to one of a plurality of risk levels and istriggered responsive to the end user entering a target risk level; alocation attribute trigger that is triggered responsive to an end userdevice entering or exiting a location with predefined attributes; and anevent trigger that is triggered responsive to a detection of an event.15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein rendering thesimulation by the graphical user interface is selectable for differentdevice models of the user computing device.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer readable medium for storing computer code comprisinginstructions, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to: enable a graphical user interfacefor display at a client device of a message publisher for the messagepublisher to build a message series; receive selections, via thegraphical user interface from the message publisher, to build themessage series, an initial message in the message series selected to besent via a short messaging service (SMS) and an additional message inthe message series selected to be sent via a communication channel, theadditional message associated with a trigger condition that monitors auser action performable in relation to the initial message sent via theSMS; enable the graphical user interface for display a message seriespreview of the message series, the message series preview comprising asimulation of the additional message as would be rendered in the usercomputing device received via the communication channel; receive acommand from the client device of the message publisher to launch themessage series; transmit the initial message to one or more end usercomputing devices of message recipients via the SMS; determine,responsive to a user of the end user computing device performing theuser action in relation to the initial message transmitted via the SMS,that the trigger condition has been met; and transmit the additionalmessage to the end user computing device via the communication channel.17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the useraction performable in relation to the initial message transmitted viathe SMS is one of viewing the initial message or responding to theinitial message.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16,wherein the initial message is sent to the end user computing devicebased on one or more trigger conditions, and wherein the instructions,when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one ormore processors to: receive one or more mobile event notificationstransmitted from a plurality of end user computing devices; compare theone or more mobile event notifications to the one or more triggerconditions; and select, responsive to one of the mobile eventnotifications matching the one or more trigger conditions, the end usercomputing device from the plurality of end user computing devices as arecipient of the initial message.
 19. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 18, wherein the one or more trigger conditions areselected from one or more of the following: a tag change trigger that istriggered responsive to a tag being added or removed; an inactivitytrigger that is triggered responsive to a mobile application associatedwith an end user being inactive for a duration; a first-seen triggerthat is triggered responsive to an end user first opening a mobileapplication or opts in on a website, email, SMS, or an open channel; alocation trigger that is triggered responsive to an end user deviceentering or exiting a location; a risk category trigger that classifiesan end user to one of a plurality of risk levels and is triggeredresponsive to the end user entering a target risk level; a locationattribute trigger that is triggered responsive to an end user deviceentering or exiting a location with predefined attributes; and an eventtrigger that is triggered responsive to a detection of an event.
 20. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein rendering thesimulation by the graphical user interface is selectable for differentdevice models of the user computing device.